Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 71 Atari, I’m going to kill you!

Barbara would certainly be able to see Jobs before 2 p.m.

Or, when Ethan drove his Dino 246 GTS to Jobs' house and told him about his experience, the guy who was busy making the Apple I jumped up and wanted to block Atari's door on his motorcycle.

In his opinion, Nolan Bushnell and Don Valentine's persecution was tantamount to asking for his brother's life!
He wanted to let these money-obsessed guys know that even if he quit the hippie circle, his friends were not to be messed with at will!
If Ethan hadn't stopped, pulled, and dragged him, he even suspected that this spirited young man, Jobs, would most likely be in jail today.

However, Jobs' anger was actually a good thing for Ethan, because when Ethan persuaded him and said he needed help, this guy followed Ethan to Stanford without saying a word, went into the law school, and met Barbara who was waiting there.

Then he answered whatever Barbara asked.

That attitude of telling everything she knew helped Barbara gain a lot of information.

For example, Barbara learned that Nolan started selling Atari around the time when the evidence was presented after the lawsuit was filed.

For example, Barbara learned that Disney's offer to Atari was 20 million, and MCA's offer to Atari was 22 million.

This price seemed incredible to Barbara, because Atari was obviously not worth the money at all.

When she expressed her doubts and wanted to know why Disney and MCA offered such a high price to Atari...

Jobs, who had been explaining what he knew, stopped and thought for a moment. He shook his head and said, "I really don't know about this, because my friend just told me that Disney and MCA offered a shocking acquisition price to Atari."

"He even asked me, is making games more profitable than making movies?"

Barbara nodded slightly at this answer. After looking at Ethan, she smiled at Jobs and said, "Steve, can you help us find out the inside story of the offer? For example, why is MCA willing to bid 22 million?"

"Okay." Jobs agreed without thinking.

But at the same time he asked again, "Is this matter important?"

"Yes." Barbara pointed at Ethan with a serious look and said, "If we knew why Disney and MCA were willing to pay such a high price to acquire Atari, then we would know what Don Valentine and Nolan Bushnell's real demands were."

"We can also infer what role they played in this case."

"Okay, I understand." Jobs understood what Barbara meant. "I'm going to Los Angeles to see my friend now."

"But this process may take some time, so you may have to wait for me for a few days."

Jobs was quick with his words, but even quicker with his actions.

After taking on the task, he immediately left Stanford Law School.

Riding his motorcycle, he sped towards Los Angeles.

Looking at the figure gradually moving away, Barbara pursed her lips as she stood at the window.

At this moment, she was actually a little confused, "Ethan."

"Ok?"

"Don't you think this is a bit strange?"

"Teacher Barbara, why do you say that?" Ethan tilted his head to look at her.

"because--"

Barbara stretched out her voice, as if she was organizing her words, but more like she was choosing her words carefully.

After a pause of about four or five seconds, she said, "Because he is just an ordinary employee of Atari."

"My family doesn't have any background."

"So in this case, how could he know someone from MCA?"

"Moreover, in MCA, the person who can access acquisitions worth tens of millions of dollars must at least be the deputy general manager, right?"

"Being friends with someone like this?"

"He he he..."

At this point, Barbara, who was usually sharp-tongued, suddenly began to stutter.

That look made Ethan laugh, “Teacher Barbara, are you trying to say he’s unworthy?”

Barbara blinked immediately after hearing this. “As a lawyer, I never attack my clients.”

"Hahaha~" This unwarranted emphasis made Ethan burst into laughter.

"Oh Barbara—"

"You're right to be worried."

"But I believe him."

“Because his name is Steve Jobs.”

Barbara was a little surprised by Ethan's words.

She didn't know why Ethan had such great confidence in Jobs.

And this kind of thing...

Okay, so Ethan was just bragging.

In fact, when Barbara pointed out that the key to solving the problem was Atari, which Nolan wanted to sell, Ethan had been constantly verifying the correctness of the news on his way to find Jobs.

Because we must ensure that this message is correct, so that subsequent messages can be used as a basis for judgment.

Otherwise, if you make a mistake at one step, all the steps will go wrong.

Even with the help of his past life memories, Ethan still couldn't find the source of Jobs' information...

When this situation occurs, what can Ethan do when he is temporarily helpless?

Let Steve Jobs ask first!

It doesn’t cost any money anyway, so just believe it!
But when Ethan placed high expectations on Jobs, this guy Jobs disappeared as if he had evaporated from the face of the earth.

He went to Los Angeles at noon on September 17, but had not returned by the evening of September 18.

This situation made Ethan very confused, and when he went to ask Wozniak if he knew about Jobs's movements.

The fat man also said that he did not receive a call from Jobs.

This result left Ethan with no choice but to continue waiting. During this process, the San Francisco media, the Los Angeles Times which had once boasted about "Snake Game", and even some TV stations in California and New York, all reported on this incident.

When the news that [Mirowa sued Atari and that Snake Game might infringe copyright] appeared everywhere, Ethan just felt annoyed.

The concern of Thomas, Linda, Mr. Ferbole, Chuck Pete and others almost made his patience disappear.

Because he hated the state of appeasing family and friends while waiting for the final decision. "MFxxk, where has this guy been!"

Ethan, who didn't dare to go anywhere at home, scratched his head.

"It's okay if you don't come back, but you can always give me a call, right?"

Ethan was restless and anxious.

Just when he was wondering whether he should go to Los Angeles to take a look, at around ten o'clock that evening, a roar came into his ears. He opened the door and took a look. The guy in black clothes, black pants and black leather shoes was really eye-opening.

"Oh! Fxxk! Why are you dressed like this!"

Ethan remembered that Jobs was not dressed like this when he left.

"Stop talking. I've been so busy these past few days."

Jobs parked the motorcycle directly in the yard of Ethan's house and then went in as if he were returning to his own home.

He walked into the living room, opened the refrigerator, took out a bottle of mineral water, and drank it in gulps.

As he drank heartily, the sudden chill made him shiver, but he didn't care. Instead, he took out an envelope from his pocket and waved it in front of Ethan, "First-hand information, do you want to see it?"

"What do you think?" Ethan didn't bother to pay attention to him and reached out to grab it.

However, Jobs had anticipated his move and decisively withdrew it.

'???' This action surprised Ethan.

At the same time, Jobs said, "I can give it to you, but you have to promise me one thing."

"whats the matter?"

"After this is over, get me another signed Snake Game machine. He wants it."

"This is easy. Let alone signing one, we can even sign a hundred."

Ethan agreed decisively and raised his hand to take it.

This time, Jobs let him take the envelope directly.

Because Ethan was very anxious, he took it apart directly.

When he spread out the neatly folded white A4 paper, the concise but not simple line of words made his blood boil!

【Atari has patent authorization of 'US3728480 A'. 】

"WTF!!!"

"What's happening here!!!"

Ethan was shocked!

"Where did this news come from!!! Are you sure???"

Ethan looked at Jobs in disbelief.

And Jobs nodded seriously and said, "Sure."

"My friend told me in person that Sidney Sheinberg told him the news himself."

"So how did Atari get this license?"

Ethan's eyes widened, his voice trembling, "Is this something that happened before we met?"

"Yes!" Jobs took a deep breath, pointed to the sofa, and said, "I know you're in a hurry, but let's sit down and talk?"

"Okay." Ethan flew to the sofa decisively.

As he clenched his fists and tried hard to suppress his inner shock, Jobs also told about what he saw on the trip.

And this news...

Ethan was extremely angry when he heard this!
because--

"Ethan, according to my friend, there is a clause in the settlement agreement between MILO and Atari regarding Pong. In order to ensure that Atari can sell video games normally, MILO and Atari reached a patent license for 'US3728480 A'."

"They agreed that for every video game machine Atari produced, it would have to pay 3% of the sales revenue to Milova for a patent fee of 20 years, which is the natural expiration date of patent protection stipulated by our country."

"Milova did not notice this anomaly when signing the contract with Atari. Or, it could be said that this was a settlement intervened by Professor Ralph Bell, so Milova did not delve into the terms. But when Milova started suing other people, Milova discovered a problem, that is, the licensing period of 'US3728480 A' was too long and the price was too low."

"Now when Milova sues other companies, the patent fees it demands start at 8% of the sales price, and the time limit is also limited, normally one year, up to three years, and then renewed upon expiration."

"Since Milova found that the patent 'US3728480 A' could make them money without doing anything, they wanted to strangle the video game industry and make all video game production companies pay them. At this time, Atari, which obtained a long-term license with an extremely low licensing fee, had the best assets in the industry."

"So, when Nolan Bushnell sold Atari, MCA and Disney offered tens of millions. Because they found that this license would allow them to develop freely in the game field without having to worry about being strangled by Mirowa and asking for a high price like other companies."

Jobs, leaning back on the couch, looked at Ethan.

In his sight, Ethan's cheeks were already flushed.

Although Jobs knew that Ethan was extremely angry, he still wanted to say one last thing:

“Ethan, my brother, even though you are angry, there is one thing I must tell you.”

"According to my friend, before we met, Nolan Bushnell had already sold the patent license of 'US3728480 A' as Atari's core asset. Even though Atari had not yet reached an agreement with MILO, Nolan Bushnell was trying to use this license to exchange for help from MCA or Disney."

"My friend said that Nolan Bushnell and his team should have known from the beginning that Snake Game was an infringement of copyright."

"They even have a way to avoid this infringement, which is to state in the licensing contract between you that you hand over the performance of the game Snake Game to them for production, rather than leaving the arcade machine directly to their company."

"But he never told you."

"My friend can't tell you the specific reason, but this kind of thing shouldn't be hard to guess, right?"

Jobs opened his mouth slightly and gestured a word to Ethan.

Although he didn't make any sound, Ethan heard everything clearly -

Ethan roared and flipped the small coffee table next to him to the ground!
"Damn Atari!!!!"

"I'm going to kill you!!!"

Note: ① Sidney Sheinberg, a Jew, is the president and CEO of MCA and the president of Universal. ② The most valuable thing about Atari is the patent licensing of video games. The reason why Atari can make consoles and continue to make consoles after the Atari crash, and is even the only one in North America that insists on making consoles, is not because of their excellent technology, but because the licenses they obtained in the wild era were too cheap. Unfortunately, they can't do anything with Warner. If Warner makes bad movies, whoever gets it will die.

PS: The 3% licensing fee and 20 years in the article are made up by me, because there is no public data for this section, I just said it is very low and long.

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(End of this chapter)